Paradise
by Dunderklumpen
Summary: When the hospital is hell Micah offers a bit of paradise...


"**Paradise"**

The door behind her opened and Micah stood there.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," she answered and swallowed the chocolate.

"Doreen said she saw you come in here with half the vending machine. You alright?"

She nodded. "Yeah… I'm really great. Except for the fact that Gina hates me, my balvery backfired and my High School nemesis is being very nefarious. And…" she continued and looked at the candy in her hands, "these are stale."

He nodded understandingly, but she could see that he was confused. "Sorry, you lost me at balvery."

"I'm just having the worst day," she explained and turned around to face him.

"Right. Ehm… here, follow me."

She looked at him. His face was serious and he waved his arm at the exit door to emphasize his words. "Come on!"

Hastily she ate the last bites of her Ring Ding and rose from the stairs. Quietly she followed him through the hall.

"That man in there will have to learn how to walk again without a leg." Micah pointed at the room they were passing. "That women in there is gonna have a colostomy back for the next three months." He waved in the direction of the room behind Emily. "The woman down in 501 is gonna be told that she has stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Now her son is gonna try and sell her on the fact that there's always new trials she can get into but you and I know the truth: She's got six months; a year if she's lucky and she's gonna feel really sick every single day of that year. So…" he summarized, "no, you're not having the worst day. Not by a longshot."

Oh god! She felt awful! Of course he was right. She was young and healthy with all her life ahead of her and the minor hiccup in form of failed procedures and evil Cassandra wouldn't be her undoing! She sighed and tried to fight against the shame she felt. Compared with the poor souls Micah had told her about she was more than lucky. Just sometimes she forgot that everything was a question of perspective – especially when hers usually was more on the negative side than the positive.

"You must think I'm incredibly self-absorbed," she admitted guiltily.

"No, just human." He smiled at her warmly and she was relieved. Thank god he wasn't mad at her because of her thoughtlessness – that would have completed her day perfectly: A second superior she had annoyed on her first shift of residency.

"Now come on, hand over the Ring Dings and get back to work."

Obediently she gave him the Ring Ding and turned around.

"And the other one."

Damn it! She took the second one out of her pocket and handed it over.

He grinned.

"Come on!" He said and repeated his gesture to follow him.

Again she went after him, wondering where he might lead her now. He had made his point. Or had she done something else wrong she wasn't aware of? If so, he would have told her directly, wouldn't he? She stared at the back of his head, where she noticed the curls on his neck. She bet it would feel soft to the touch. For a second her attention stayed on this thought, then she was in the hallway again – to be more precise in front of the break room. Micah stopped and opened the door. He put his head through the gap and looked inside. Obviously satisfied with what he had seen, he turned around and waved Emily to come in. She stepped through the door into the empty break room. They were the only two here and if Micah hadn't grinned at her with that boyish smile of his, she would have asked herself if she should be concerned. Instead she felt curious to see what he was up to. Determined he went to the small fridge and opened it.

"Behind the lamp," he said and fumbled with something inside the opened fridge. Suddenly, he held up a small key and closed the door again. With the key in hand he turned to the cupboard next to the fridge. It had five drawers and Emily noticed now that two of them had locks.

With nimble fingers he opened one. Emily looked over his shoulder to see what was inside. There lay a small box and about 20 chocolate bars. He took out two and locked the drawer again.

"Way better than Ring Dings," he explained, "and certainly not stale!"

She opened the one he had given her and took a bite.

"Mhhh, that's delicious!"

He chuckled. "It better be. After all, it's my private stash."

She laughed and pointed to the lock. "I see you guard it with your life."

While he returned the key he answered, "Hospital Rule # 1: Nothing's safe in the break room. If you put your food in the fridge without a name tag it's faster gone than you can blink. Even more so," he bit into his own bar, "if it's chocolate!"

She opened the fridge to check his theory. "Oh, damn it! My yoghurt is gone."

Micah grinned. "I count on you, Emily. This," he pointed with the chocolate first to the cupboard then to the fridge, "stays between us."

She nodded. "Scout's honour! But….," she stopped, already wishing she hadn't said anything.

"But?" He asked.

"Ehm… why did you share with me?"

He shrugged. "Because I know exactly how awful old Ring Dings taste. Believe me, I had my fair share of the vending machine and most of it tastes like it's at least 20 years in there."

A smile played around the corners of his mouth before his expression became serious again. "Plus I know how badly you sometimes need something to cheer you up. There are days when the hospital is hell and then you can use a bit of paradise to make it better." With that he patted her on the shoulder and gave her a last smile.

She took another bite and watched him leave. She felt strangely proud that he had shared this secret with her.

The chocolate bar was empty and she still had the wrapping in hand. Two steps and she stood in front of the trash can. She opened it to throw the paper away when her eyes caught the red label: "Paradise Chocolate". She smiled brightly and put the wrapping in the bin. Like Micah had said:

'A bit of paradise to make everything better.'


End file.
